This invention relates to trailers and tailgates and, more particularly, to trailers which are extendable.
Trailers are known as adapted to be towed behind vehicles such as automobiles, vans and trucks as on road or off road for carrying loads. Known trailers suffer the disadvantage that they have a fixed size and/or configuration which limits the nature of the loads which can be carried. Most known trailers and the beds of vehicles suffer the disadvantage that since they have a fixed bed size, loads which are, for example, longer than the fixed bed can only be carried by the end of the load extending unsupported from the bed.
Known tailgates which close the beds of trailers, pickup trucks, vans, station wagons and the like suffer the disadvantage that if they are mounted in a hinge relation, they are relatively expensive and/or may not permit location as a horizontal extension of the bed.
To at least partially overcome these disadvantages of known devices, the present invention provides a tailgate for a vehicle having a load bed, particularly a trailer, which tailgate is removably mountable either as an upstanding wall or an extension of the bed.
An object of the present invention is to provide an extendable trailer.
Another object is to provide a mechanism for extension of a vehicle""s load carrying bed.
Another object is to provide an inexpensive tailgate for pickup trucks, vans, station wagons and the like which can, in one position, partially close an edge of a bed of the vehicle and, in another position, extend the bed of the vehicle.
Another object is to provide a construction for a knockdown trailer which can be readily assembled into different configurations.
Another object is to provide a removable tailgate for a trailer which can be manually moved, between a wall-forming position and a bed extending position without the need for tools.
Another object is to provide a removable supplemental load support surface for a vehicle which can be manually moved between a horizontal support position and a verticle storage position.
In one aspect, the present invention provides an extendable trailer comprising:
a bed supported on a wheel assembly;
at least one gate member removably coupled to a side edge of the bed by means of at least one plug and socket device;
the plug and socket device comprising:
a rod extending away from a side edge of the gate member directed away from the side edge of the gate inclined at a first angle to a plane of the gate member and a socket provided on the side edge of the bed directed away from the bed inclined at an second angle to a plane of the bed and adapted to slidably and removably receive and lock the rod coaxially therein such that, in a first configuration of the gate member relative the bed the gate member extends upwardly substantially perpendicular from the side edge of the bed defining a wall, and in a second configuration of the gate member relative the bed, the gate member extends laterally substantially parallel from the bed defining a side extension to the bed.
In another aspect, the present invention provides an extendable trailer comprising:
a bed carrying underneath thereof a wheel assembly;
at least four side panels each connected to a side edge of the bed defining a box;
at least one of the side panels being removably connected to the bed, either in a first relative position or in a second relative position by means of at least one coupling device comprising:
a first female member provided on a side edge of the panel at a first angle to a plane of the panel;
a second female member provided on the side edge of the bed at a second angle to a plane of the bed;
an elongate rigid male member having a first male end adapted to be slidably and removably secured in the first female member and a second male end adapted to be slidably and removably secured in the second female member;
the first male end and the second male end extending away at a third angle to each other;
the first, second and third angles being such that in the first position the panel forms a perpendicular wall to the bed and in the second position the panel forms a parallel extension to the bed at the side edge thereof
In another aspect, the present invention provides a motor vehicle having a load carrying bed open along an edge of the carrier bed, a removable gate connected to the edge of the carrier bed by means of at least one coupling device comprising a rod extending away from the gate directed towards the carrier bed edge inclined at about 45 degrees to a plane of the gate and a socket provided on the carrier bed edge directed away from the rod inclined at about 45 degrees to a plane of the bed and adapted to slidably and removably receive and lock the rod coaxially therein in a first configuration of the gate relative the bed in which the gate extends upwardly substantially perpendicular from the bed edge and with the gate manually removable from the bed for rotation of the gate 180 degrees about an axis of the rod and re-insertion of the rod into the socket in a second configuration of the gate relative the bed in which the gate extends laterally substantially parallel from the bed defining a side extension to the bed.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a vehicle having a load carrying bed with a side edge of the bed,
a gate manually removably coupling to the bed in a first wall-forming orientation in which the gate extends upwardly from the side edge of the bed providing an upstanding wall to the bed, and in a second bed extending orientation in which the gate extends laterally from the side edge of the bed providing a side extension to the bed,
the gate removably coupling to the bed by a socket-and-plug coupling mechanism comprising:
a female socket member having a socket extending about a linear socket axis,
a male member having a plug extending about a linear plug axis,
the plug slidable into and out of the socket for securing the male member within the female member with the plug axis coaxial the socket axis and for removal therefrom,
the plug coaxially slidable into the socket in a first and a second rotational positions of the plug relative the socket, each of the first and second rotational position being a position in which the plug is orientated, rotated 180 degrees about the plug axis relative the other of the first and second positions,
the female socket member fixed to the bed member proximate the side edge with the socket axis at an angle of about 45 degrees to the bed angled upwardly and away from the side,
the male member coupled to the gate proximate an edge of the gate with the plug to extend away from the gate at an angle of 45 degrees to the gate;
wherein with said plug in said first rotational position of the plug in the socket, the gate in said first wall-forming orientation position and with the plug in said second rotational orientation of the gate in the socket the gate is in said second bed extending orientation.
A manually removable tailgate for a trailer which is to be coupled to the trailer either in a wall-forming configuration or a bed extending configuration. The tailgate is coupled to the trailer bed by a plug-in-socket sliding arrangement with, upon removal, relative rotation of the plug and/or the entire gate 180 degrees about an axis of the socket permitting movement from one orientation to the other.